WEHT Sal Mineo?

The funniest and meanest thing Martin Short ever did on his "Jiminy Glick Show" was when he reenacted old Hollywood scandals with marionettes.

The cruelest and funniest of all was Sal Mineo's murder, which involved the puppet Sal Mineo walking home from rehearsals of "P.S. You Cat is Dead": "'Mannered'?" the puppet says just before he's set upon by his murderers, "What did the director mean, that my acting is 'mannered'?"

Too soon, OP.

Too soon.

No no no, Sal Mineo

I would never stoop so low

OPs pic reminds me of Kevin Brugger on HGTV...

My late husband fucked him back in the 60s

Wasn't Bobby Sherman his "protege"?

He was quite sexy. No, god no, he did not fuck Paul Lynde.

Ralph Macchio looks so much like Sal Mineo but of course is not as sexy or gay. He should have played Sal in a biopic when he was still young.

BH: You said earlier you'd mention an affair you had with someone famous. For instance?

SM: For instance? How about Peter Lawford?

BH: Bi, right? How about Peter Lawford?

SM: Yeah. (Smiles.) How about Peter Lawford. That's enough name-dropping for now. And I don't go much for groupies, either. Stars- big stars- or groupies; I like someone I can relate to like a kind of equal, you know?

He should have been cast in The Godfather.

That's a really cute picture OP.

He was a much better and natural actor than James Dean.

He looked like a very young Marlon Brando...like his kid brother, maybe.

R12 Have you watched Dean’s television work? I doubt it.

He was the birthday cake of gay Hollywood in the 50s and 60s: everyone had a piece.

Young Sal Mineo - talk about a pretty boy, just beautiful.

BH: Do you ever think that, if you hadn't been in Rebel, you might have become a bigger star?

SM: You mean I might've had the lead. When I started in films I was fifteen, sixteen, and I had this baby face that made me look like a wheat-flour dumpling or something. And the name didn't exactly help.

BH: That's true. . . . Come to think of it, you're almost the only Italian-American actor who was allowed to keep his surname. Did you put up a big fight to retain it?

SM: Damn right, man. I'm proud of being a wop.

BH: First time I heard "wop," I thought it was a kind of little fish- like a pollywog.

SM: Pollywop's an Italian parrot. . . . Yeah, I was unique. They made all the guys change names and half of them had to have nose jobs, like Dean Martin, alias Dino Crocetti. And the girls: Anne Bancroft's real name was Italiano- and Paula Prentiss' was Ragusa, I think.

BH: What did they think they were accomplishing by doing that, I wonder? Particularly since most of the studio heads weren't WASPs.

SM: Standardization.

BH: Easier to control people when you can keep them fitting into molds, I suppose.

SM: Hell, not just that, they didn't want the world to know there was an Italian heritage. Or that you could look all kinds of ways and be Italian. We ain't all olive-skinned. Look at Connie Stevens or what's-her-name . . . Bernadette Peters.

BH: And look at Virna Lisi, fresh from the old country.

SM: You are making me horny.

BH: Who are those two girls you mentioned, for a double date?

SM: (Laughs.) Are you kidding? I got a girl in every port- and a couple of guys in every port, too.

BH: Do you think rumors about being bi have hurt you in your career?

SM: Maybe. . . Nah, I doubt it. Everyone's got those rumors following him around, whether it's true or not. Everyone's supposed to be bi, starting way back with Gary Cooper and on through Brando and Clift and Dean and Newman and . . . you want me to stop?

BH: Did you resent the rumors?

SM: Well, no. Because what's wrong with being bi? Maybe most people are, deep down.

BH: Shirley MacLaine has publicly said that.

SM: I think she's right- got a good noodle, Shirl does. But anyhow, the rumor about me, from what I hear, was usually that I'm gay. Where, like, with Monty Clift or Brando, the rumor was that they're bi. [Brando later publicly admitted to bisexuality.]

BH: There was also a rumor that you once hustled. ...

SM: Hustled? Me? No. I never charged no one in my life- and I could have, too. But I tell you this: some of my relatives, over in Sicily, are ragazzi di vita.

BH: "Boys of life?"

SM: Yeah- means hustlers. (Shrugs.) A lot more of that goes on than people think, especially in poor places.

BH: What about Hollywood's male casting couch?

SM: What about it? There's always been a casting couch- gay, bi, straight, everything.

BH: Even women behind the casting couch now, I hear.

SM: Yeah, but not much. They gotta keep more careful about their reps than men do. Anyway, if you want to know if I've been on the couch, unh-unh.

He channeled a lot of Brando in his performance as Dino.

[quote]My late husband fucked him back in the 60s

Don't just leave it at that, R5.

In any case, his career really seemed to have stalled by the time of his death. He did Columbo, The Patty Duke show and Mission Impossible but a lot of his other TV appearances are in shows that were cancelled after a single season and have long since been forgotten.

[quote] or what's-her-name . . . Bernadette Peters.

Ouch.

I might believe Sal was bi if he wasn't fucking men on the side whenever he was with a woman. Monty was gay. Marlon Brando and MAYBE James Dean were the only legitimate bisexuals from the groups that always throw around "they were actually pussyhounds too!" for whatever reason.

I hope he didn't fuck Lynde.......

He would have made a good Giovanni if a film adaptation of Giovanni's Room was made when he was still young. I think Sal wanted to adapt it in the 70s but he would have been too old for the title role by then and he wouldn't have fit the role of David.

Andre Boleyn reminds me of Sal Mineo.

At the time of his death, Mineo was a good friend of the 17-year-old Shaun Cassidy. Of course there have been rumors about Mineo and Cassidy co-hooking for threesomes.

For some reason the story/stories (including about shenanigans about Sal's "covered up" death) have been getting attention again recently.

Sal Mineo was the perfect twink. When he was a twink.

By the way, OP, you dumbshit, on the DL it's WHET.

Get with the program.

Paul Lynde?! WTF, OP.

BH: Careers can't be built on couches, right?

SM: You got it. I mean, a chick or a guy can get some tiny part or get put in front of a crowd, maybe. But that's it. And it's blackmail- you gotta keep playing the guy's game. It wouldn't be worth it. And it would mean you can't get by on your talent.

^DL begs to differ

He's right though. Casting couch can get you the doors opened. But it won't make you a star. You got to have the it factor and the audience has to like you also.

You call it a casting couch, I call it securing the services of a producer.

Tell me about it, R28.

[quote] He was a much better and natural actor than James Dean.

I agree more convincing. The Gene Krupa Story showed what a talent he was. I think his Southern Italian looks and name limited his role offers as he aged and he was also short with a babyface. It worked for those 1950s teen movies but not so much in the 60s. If he didn't die in 1976, I could see Scorsese, De Palma, Coppola, Tarantino, Jarmusch and others using him and giving his career a revival in the 80s and 90s.

Sal Mineo's parents were Italian immigrants and settled in Bronx, NY IIRC.

The father was a coffin/casket maker.

Sal Mineo came out in 1960 when few to nil other gay actors would dare. It probably cost him acting gigs and other opportunities, but Mr. Mineo felt it had to do what he had to do.

Contrary to what many believe, Sal Mineo's murder was about robbery, not a trick scene gone horribly wrong.

More:

Came out in 1960? In what publication?

Wasn’t there a book written about him where someone said he lived like a pig and he would let his dog shit in his apartment?

The Bronx definitely came out every time Sal spoke. In "The Young Don't Cry", he tried to do the Southern accent but kept slipping into his native Bronx accent.

All three Rebel Without a Cause leads died tragically and prematurely.

[quote] MAYBE James Dean were the only legitimate bisexual

The more we learn about Dean's sexual abuse, and how it affected him, plus his early death. I'm growing less comfortable classifying his sexuality. I am bi and I'd love to claim him, but I don't think he really knew, himself, and it was one of the things that tortured him and made his performances so good.

Since, Sal Mineo did acknowledge his bisexuality, I am very happy to claim him. Also, OP's pic looks so contemporary. Mineo would be doing very well on instagram if he was here and young, now.

Lots of people have been sexually abused. I don't think that should be a reason to denounce the validity of their sexuality.

R38 Sexual abuse doesn't make you bisexual or gay. James Dean enjoyed having sex with men because he was attracted to them. Also we don't even know if his pastor really molested him or if it was more along the lines of statutory rape. You can't blame an older gay man and a gay teenager who happen to find each other in a poor backwoods town in a heavily oppressive time period to have an affair when there's no outlets for them.

No one ever suggests someone is straight because they were sexually abused...

Also, I didn't know Sal Mineo was the model for The New Adam, one of the greatest American nudes

R39 I'm not denouncing the validity of his sexuality. Or suggesting he was gay or bi because of the abuse. I just really don't think he had come to a conclusion as to what it was, before his death. It is clear he had relationships and sexual relations with men and women, but all we know is that he said he wasn't homosexual. As someone with an abuse situation in my past, I realize you have to work through it before determining what you really are. He was 24 when he died. And, the abuse had occurred throughout his high school career. That is probably not enough time for him to have fully come to terms with it, it is possible but from accounts of his life, I doubt it.

If anything young gay boys especially effeminate ones are more likely to be victimized by predators often due to their outcast status. Thus it's easier to isolate and groom them.

James Dean said he wasn't homosexual for obvious reasons. And it was not due to being confused.

The second of the two biographies written about him was very good. Most of his career/life he really was a journeyman actor living paycheck to paycheck. While that was rough he seemed to accept it and not be bitter. His Weho apt for years was barely furnished. All he wanted to do was fuck and act. I think his long time bf Courtney something is still alive.

R44 In the 1950s, his quote "No, I am not a homosexual. But I'm also not going to go through life with one hand tied behind my back," would not have saved him grief. The powers that be didn't care if you called yourself gay or bisexual, if you were a man with any attraction to other men and acted on that attraction, you were considered mentally ill. So acknowledging that there was ANY truth to the rumors, was a brave thing to acknowledge.

I don't think he was Paul Lynde's type.

R38 I know most people think men can’t be bisexual but I think Dean actually was. He had romantic and sexual relationships with women too such as Pier Angeli, Barbara Glenn, Geraldine Page, Arlene Martel, Alice Denham, Lili Kardell, etc.

R38 As I said, I'd love to claim him. I just think his particular situation is one that makes it difficult for outsiders to determine.

Sal wasn’t a big fan of Paul Newman.

BH: What was it like working with Paul Newman in Somebody Up There Likes Me?

SM: You didn't even comment that I did two flicks with Escape in the title. (Smiles.) Paul was pretty new then. Like me. Only, he was taller and he had blue eyes, and being half-Gentile, he could get into leading-man parts just like that. (Snaps fingers.)

BH: He certainly had the required look.

SM: And then some. And don't think he didn't know it. Well, the truth is, we didn't get along that great.

BH: That sort of parallels the fact that Rock Hudson and James Dean didn't get along on Giant. Older man/younger man rivalry?

SM: Maybe. But Paul- I gotta be fair to the man- he had a heavy part, with makeup and cauliflower ears and all, so he had lots to worry about. Plus he was runnin' sorta scared, with one big bomb behind him. We were all impressed out of our wits- I came from the stage, and Hollywood was it. I'd have done anything they wanted.

BH: Was Newman approachable? I've heard he has a considerable ego.

SM: We all have that. But yeah, he was on kind of a star trip. He could afford to be. Leading men can survive a few flops. Me, if I'd had a few flops back then, I'd have been demoted to bit parts or stuck in some crowd scene.

R49 As a bisexual you shouldn’t be hesitant to claim Dean. The issues you mentioned haven’t stopped the gays from claiming him and acting like they own him, lol.

BH: What was your childhood like in New York?

SM: My childhood in New York was one long Bronx cheer. Okay?

BH: You're probably a lot more interesting now. . . Was Paul Newman any nicer in Exodus?

SM: Everyone has a Paul Newman thing, man. (Shakes head.) He's a great-looking ice cube. Leave it at that.

Mineo might have had a better career if he's stayed in New York or gone back there. His movie career was destined to be character parts and (perhaps later) indie film, although he was a little old for the heyday of indies. He was not going to get a lot of respect for his acting in tv and movies and he could have played a wider range of parts in plays, even if he was destined for a lot of off-Broadway.

First of all, we don't know if James Dean was really groomed and molested as a young kid by that minister or if he was in his later teens and consented to have a sexual relationship with him. There's many different interpretations to that. I think James Dean was just extremely adventurous and hypersexual young man with an opposition to authority and craving for novelty. He just did whatever he wanted and banged who he wanted and was blunt about it. It's why he pissed off so many in Hollywood. He seemed like he had ADHD.

R54 I agree with your post overall, but if we’re to believe Elizabeth Taylor’s account to Kevin Sessums:

Elizabeth Taylor revealed a secret about James Dean during an interview for POV magazine 14 years ago — but she made writer Kevin Sessums promise not to publish it until she died.

“I loved Jimmy. I’m going to tell you something, but it’s off the record until I die. OK?” she said, according to Sessums in a new piece for The Daily Beast.

“When Jimmy was 11 and his mother passed away, he began to be molested by his minister. I think that haunted him the rest of his life,” alleged Taylor. “In fact, I know it did. We talked about it a lot. During Giant we’d stay up nights and talk and talk, and that was one of the things he confessed to me.”

Yeah, Dean was young and probably would have fucked anything on two legs. I don't think we can infer too much about what his "mature" sexuality might have looked like.

Gorgeous curls and eyes, too. And yes, I agree, Ralph Macchio (at least when he was younger, circa "The Outsiders" film adaptation) really did remind me of Mineo in many ways.

Sal was so, so cute. I just love all those guys from that group-- Dean, Mineo, Clift. All fueled my fantasies when I was coming out in the 90s, pre-internet.

Asif we can believe Kevin "relies on the kindness of strangers" Sessums about anything.

[quote] SM: Myra ain't gay. That was transsexual stuff,

I LOVE Sal Mineo.

Sal however was in love with James Dean until the day he died:

But for years rumors would circulate that Mineo, who had come to live an openly homosexual lifestyle but who was described in his obituaries simply as a “bachelor,” had been killed by “rough trade.” Following the murder, the media played up Mineo’s association with Dean. To illustrate his obituary, The New York Times ran a still shot from Rebel Without a Cause that showed Mineo staring adoringly at Dean as he lies on a sofa and rests his head in Natalie Wood’s lap. The obituaries noted his friendship with Dean, although none went as far as Mineo himself did in an article about Dean that appeared in New York magazine on November 8, 1976. Mineo told the New York writer:

I was in incredible awe of him in many ways, watching him do the things that he did, and getting these feelings while I was act- ing with him. ... I couldn’t understand, couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Something was happening to me.... I think it was sexual to an extent, but I had no idea or any under- standing of affection between men. . . . ’'d always idolized older people because I always spent so much time with older people. And for the first time I felt something strong. I liked being near him. I liked talking with him more than anybody else….

I realize now, twenty years later, that from the moment I met Jimmy my whole life took on a completely different meaning. Where I am as a person today goes with the time when I was de- veloping, when I didn’t realize what was happening. It was only years later that I understood I was incredibly in love with him. But at the time, that feeling was something else. I never found men sexually attractive. No way . . . But I realized later that I was homosexually attracted to him. When he showed love to me, when he said it, that did it. I always had a feeling that I couldn’t touch him. He was really overwhelming. The very last time that I saw him, I had a feeling . . . I was sad and yet vibrant. I mean, those are feelings I can understand, but I just knew that I was feeling something that I didn’t feel with anything or anybody else.

R59 I’m inclined to believe him, because he did actually interview Liz in 1997.

[quote]SM: Everyone has a Paul Newman thing, man. (Shakes head.) He's a great-looking ice cube. Leave it at that.

Kind of similar to that bitchy heterosexual, Frank Langella's assessment: "He was gorgeous, had talent, was a wonderful citizen, marvellous husband, father; but he’s a little dull."

Sal was ahead of his time. Sad his life ended the way it did.

Most of James Dean's friends and colleagues or Hollywood insiders have said he was bisexual. Like Will Bast, Sal Mineo, Maila Nurmi, Nicholas Ray, John Gilmore and Gavin Lambert. They all seem more credible than Elizabeth Taylor.

BH: Who won when you were nominated for Rebel? Then we'll get off this depressing subject.

SM: Ta-da: Jack Lemmon, in Mister Roberts. I knew he'd win. BH: Coincidentally- or not -your character, Plato, was killed off in Rebel, too.

SM: Makes sense: he was, in a way, the first gay teenager in films. You watch it now, you know he had the hots for James Dean. You watch it now, and everyone knows about Jimmy, so it's like he had the hots for Natalie [Wood] and me. Ergo, I had to be bumped off, out of the way.

BH: Straight critics and audiences would mostly see that Plato was looking for a father figure, since he comes from a broken home.

SM: The brokenest! So what's the point?

BH: I think people tend to see what they want to see. Plato's feelings may be a mixture of seeking the missing father and idolizing or adoring Jim, but straights will see only the one aspect and gays will see only the other. What do you think? SM: Does that mean only bisexuals see both aspects?

BH: Could be....

SM: I do think Rebel's one of those superflicks that are all things to all people. It has so many levels.

BH: So in a sense, your career began at the top...

SM: And I've been working my way down ever since. BH: I didn't mean that. But people who peak early- like you, with your Oscar nominations within five or six years of each other- often find it difficult to live up to the early promise, right?

SM: Don't I know. . . . No, you're absolutely right. You only get a Rebel or an Exodus once in a few years, and if you can work up to that, people see you as developing. If it starts out that way, they see you as, well, regressing. Those are maybe my most famous flicks, and I played fucked-up teens in them, so guess what they kept offering me?

BH: I found Dino very touching- the best thing I've ever seen on juvenile delinquency and the vicious circle of reform schools.

SM: It was pretty decent. But you know what I liked? The Gene Krupa Story. I loved those drums, man!

BH: I haven't seen that. I almost saw one of yours called Tonka. Didn't have any idea what it was about, but I used to play with Tonka trucks when I was a kid, so...

SM: Why didn't you see it?

BH: I went out on a date that night.

SM: So tell me.

BH: I had a date with this girl on Saturday night, but she wanted to change it to Friday, because of a family visit. But I'm sure I'll catch up with Tonka someday.

SM: Eh, don't bother. If you've got a heavy date, go with it, man. Or her, or him, or whatever.

BH: Do you think bisexuality is the true norm?

SM: You mean do I think everyone's bi? Yeah. . . if they'd be honest about it, or try it. How about you?

BH: I don't think one can generalize about people that way. SM: How about you personally?

BH: I've been attracted to both. . . . Now, back to your career. Did you think of yourself as a sex symbol?

SM: An SS? (laughs.) Not after I made Exodus. You know, Otto sounds like a Nazi, and he's a tough buzzard, but he's got a great heart. Nice man. . . . What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. Did or do I consider myself sexy?

BH: Do you consider yourself a sex symbol?

SM: Only when I'm alone and lonely... if you know what I mean.

BH: Who doesn't?

SM: Oh, I know a few devout Sicilians who don't. . . BH: Priests?

SM: Are you kidding? Nuns. Priests do it right and left- there's more gay priests than you can figure. Why do you think the Church is so down on priests?

BH: Appearances?

SM: Yeah, that and the clothes they wear. Anyway, I don't want to offend anybody here.

Despite the love interest, the strongest personal relationship in the film is between Jimmy and Sal Mineo's Plato. Nick Ray was not adverse to using Jimmy's bisexuality to good purpose. The director knew that Sal was homosexual, and he encouraged him to explore that part of himself that would love Jimmy. At the same time, according to Ray, Jimmy fell in love with Sal. "He knew it and I knew it. I didn't stop it because it was helping the film. I heard him explaining things to Sal: 'You know how I am with Nat. Well, why don't you pretend I'm her and you're me. . . . Pretend you want to touch my hair, but you're shy.' Then Jimmy says, I’m not shy like you. I love you. I'll touch your hair.' I took one look at the kid's face ... he was transcendent, the feeling coming out of him. You saw the film was something to cry about, so I tiptoed away. The next scene Sal broke the sound barrier."

Sometime later, Sal told me that he and Jimmy never became lovers. "But we could have—just like that." I took what Sal said with a grain of salt.

From James Dean: Little Boy Lost

R17 The fact Sal confirmed there were bisexual rumors about Paul Newman must mean there’s some merit to them. Maybe that threesome with Dean, Newman, and Eartha Kitt actually happened lol.

R38 Did Mineo was relationships with women? I’ve always seen him referred to as gay.

Did Mineo have relationships with women*

R70, Yes. Jill Haworth for one.

Jill et Sal à Paris.

This interview with Courtney Burr is worth a read.

Michaud's biography of Mineo is terrible. I just couldn't get through it, even though I am really interested in Mineo. It's like it was written by an eighth grader or something.

[Quote] One afternoon he decided, "Fuck it—I'm gonna call Natalie." I mean, they were obviously close—Natalie Wood—and call them [Natalie Wood and husband Robert Wagner] at home and he called them up and they said, "Well, come on by the house," and he said, "Good, I'm gonna bring my friend Courtney," and they went "uhhh"

Natalie was probably worried that RJ would fuck Courtney.

R10 He wasn’t considered for The Godfather I’m guessing bc of homophobia and he was considered washed up by then. I think the same was true for Pier Angeli. I read she badly wanted a role in The Godfather but died before filming began.

Forgot to mention Sal badly wanted a role in The Godfather too.

Sal didn't age all that well. Did he do a lot of partying? Or maybe staying that skinny started to show in his face.

R78 He still looked good to me. You know there was probably some Disney gay in that Mickey costume thinking, "How about we drop the fish and the three of us go to Fantasyland?"

“ Natalie was probably worried that RJ would fuck Courtney.” - their youngest daughter is named Courtney 😱

R74. Is Michaud a dim bulb? He seems that way, tbh….a weird crotch watcher

I’ve been to visit his grave in Westchester county New York. Buried nearby is Babe Ruth and in the same cemetery Beth Houdini, Harry’s wife who he was never able to contact from the great beyond despite their pact to do so.

Sal became even more effeminate as time went on. Not bi.

[R70], Yes. Jill Haworth for one

That was all PR for Preminger's dirge of a film called 'Exodus".

Salvatore Mineo's head was wider than deeper.

Not much different from Ernest Borgnine's.

Was Sal a top or bottom or versatile?

Didn’t Sal Mineo rape Timmy from “Lassie?”

No. Sal's aunt did invent Liquid Paper, though.

That was Michael Nesmith (of The Monkees) mother, R88, were they related?

R82 et al

If anyone gets up that way Gate of Heaven cemetery is lovely. It is final resting place of so many famous and infamous persons.

Cannot find a link between Nesmith and Mineo.

He was written out of Grease, the movie, so he killed himself.

Kensico Cemetery, in Valhalla, NY is neighbor to Gates of Heaven ( latter actually was created from land purchased from former), and is also final resting place for many famous persons.

Actors Equity has a huge bit of land in Kensico for final resting place of members.

From Actors Fund website/funerals.

"In 1886, The Actors Fund purchased its first plot at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn, New York, and in 1904, a second plot was purchased at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. These plots are the final resting place of over 2,000 members of the entertainment industry.

Today, The Fund continues to assist with the cost of funerals and provide a gravesite with a headstone to those in need. In addition, The Fund offers pre-pay arrangements for those interested in purchasing a gravesite."

/quote

That poor soul (an actor) who took his life in Central Park few years ago was buried in Kensico cemetery thanks to Actors Equity.

[Quote] That was all PR for Preminger's dirge of a film called 'Exodus".

Nope. Poor Jill walked in on Sal and a male doing the do.

Jill Haworth did move into Sal Mineo's home which at time fueled rumors of a great romance. But she "soon found out" SM was gay, but didn't seem bothered. The two remained life long friends until Sal Mineo's death.

Ms. Haworth had an interesting life and career. For inhabitants of DL and or theatre world Jill Haworth is often savaged as the first Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway.

Jill Haworth never married and died aged 65 in her New York City apartment (purchased with money she earned from Cabaret)

Haworth did voiceover work to remain afloat after the 1970s?

R96

Television, cheesy horror or sci-fi films, some legit work here and there... Jill Haworth's final film was released in 2001.

The lady came from a wealthy family, but don't know how much if any of it she saw.

Jill Haworth made NYC news in 2008 when a construction crane slammed into apartment building where she lived. Ms. Haworth and other residents were forced to evacuate.

Living at 300 East 51st street in Turtle Bay one takes as a pretty good indication Ms. Haworth wasn't destitute or anywhere near. Well at least she wasn't on starvation rations or anything.

Sal was one cool fag.

R6 A thread on Bobby Sherman and Sal Mineo...

His 70’s fashions were the BEST.

Getting a whiff of RDJ from Sal's interview...

They were dreadful. Sal was not only a victim of murder but also of fashion.

R104 I meant best as in WORST. U know, he really “went for it”

What a stupid thread, OP

A lot of beautiful pics of him on this site

Not going to double back to check if this is mentioned prior, but if you want to know what he looks like nude and larger then life sized, he was the model for this monumental painting. It was on view briefly about five years ago and quite spectacular.

I want to travel back in time and top for him when he's in RWAC and bottom for him in the 1970s.

Did he fuck Jimmy Dean or not? That's the question.

Sal grew up at 2485 Wenner Place in the Bronx. In 2014, torn down for Throggs Neck Shopping Center

One of the sad parts in the biography is how as soon as he became famous he bought a big house on Long Island for his entire family and extended family. In those days if Italians in the Bronx hit it big or semi big they moved to Long Island. That was the promised land. Not that many years later he couldn't afford it and had to sell it .

R77, I think about that every so often because he really did look a lot like Marlon Brando. He should have played one of the Corleone sons. From the Michaud biography (which was not very good), I got that he was blackballed from that film for being gay. Someone on that production didn't want to work with him. It's really too bad, because it might have saved his career and maybe even his life if he'd gotten to play Fredo. The reason I say that is because he was in a career drain-circle for years, trying to get funding for various unsavory/unappealing projects and spinning his wheels chasing tail, as they say.

Wasn’t there some gay prison play that was made into movie with Don Johnson he was involved in, maybe as a director?

Fortune and Men's Eyes.

An unwrapped snack cake was found near his body.

What was it . . . Devil Dog, Ring Ding, Twinkie, Snowball?

Twinkie, obviously.

Did Yul Brynner fuck Sal when they were doing The King and I on Broadway?

Sal and Don

More Sal and Don

Sad and tragic ending to a wonderful life.

As wont to happen with Italian families then and still now, Sal Mineo's people refused to believe he was "gay" or at least had relations with men. Then came squabbling about what little money Sal Mineo's estate contained.

Sal Mineo would have been great in any number of television roles that called for stereotypical Italian mafia or whatever parts.

Cheesy perhaps, but Quinn Martin productions and others made regular use of a stable of certain actors which would have meant steady work.

As it turns out one of Sal Mineo's last acting gigs was Columbo.

Is that Hector Elizondo?

Yes...

Fortune And Men's Eyes

With young Don Johnson of all actors....

Of all actors? Don Johnson has been posted numerous times in this thread.

Sal looked gorgeous in this.

Does he? It doesn't surprise me that leads didn't come his way as he aged. He had that thing that "cute" people have as they age, they begin to look like an aged child. Michael J. Fox would have been the same.

Ralph Macchio is his doppleganger and could never escape being The Karate Kid despite being a pretty good actor, so maybe you have a point.

R127

Obviously meant outside of DL threads you mook!

Uber hetro Don Johnson of Miami Vice fame is last person average Americans would have expected to see in something like Fortune and Men's Eyes.

It's 2021, r131. Don Johnson isn't a byword for anything.

R129

Yes, that is true....

Sal Mineo was an adorable youth, attractive teen ager and young adult, but as will happen he grew up.

As an adult man, and certainly as time went on Sal Mineo looked rather like any number of average older Italian men.

Ralph Macchio has fared rather better...

This was probably Sal Mineo as his peak.

Disagree.

This was his peak. 100%.

I think he set the record for dying in movies. "Rebel Without a Cause", "Giant", "The Longest Day", "Who killed Teddy Bear" and "Escape From the Planet of the Apes".

He left behind Hollywood to become a full-time crossword puzzle answer.

Still from WKTB

Working out.

Love how the prison in Fortune and Men's Eyes has no black inmates.

Most mainstream gay porn of same period didn't have men of color either, well unless you count some niche studios...

I still think Sal being too "ethnic" stalled his leading man career in the 60s. It wasn't a problem in the 50s when he was playing rebellious teenagers. The greaser and rock n roll fashion often was represented by blue-collar Italian kids. But when he got older, his looks may have posed an issue. Compare him to Paul Newman (who despite being Jewish) was fair-skinned and blue-eyed thus more relatable to middle America.

When did Sal have a leading man career? Wasn't he a second lead in 'A' movies?

[Quote] Compare him to Paul Newman (who despite being Jewish) was fair-skinned and blue-eyed thus more relatable to middle America.

Compare him to Burt Reynolds... Oh, wait.

Burt Reynolds looked like a Midwestern white guy with a tan. Didn't look Native American at all. Sal Mineo could pass for North African or Middle Eastern.

Here's Sal playing the son of a honkie.

Omar Sharif was a leading man in the 1960s...

George Chakiris, like Sal, still played juveniles as the 1960s wore on. See Chakiris in "The Big Cube."

R149

Here ya go! George Chakiris was a bit long in the tooth to be doing the boogaloo; but hey it was the 70's and lots of older men and women wanted to be "happening" and "with it".

Poor George. Is that the same night he got arrested at the Molly Pitcher rest area on 95 in Jersey in the men's room?

Chakiris, not Maharis!

Of Fortunes In Men's Eyes...

"Cohen recommended the play to Broadway press agent David Rothenberg, who in turn recommended it to Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman workshopped the play at the New York Actors Studio in 1966, taking the role of Rocky, while Jon Voight played Smitty"

Now I would have paid good money to see that pairing.....

Ronnie Dyson, who sang the theme song, was gay as well.

Sadly we lost Michael Greer back in 2002. Now that's a life and name deserving of its own thread.

Did Sal and "Dan Travanty" fool around during the making of "Who Shot Teddy Bear?"

Given how much D. Travanty was rolled around in his day, I'd say odds are on Sal Mineo tapped that ass. Or maybe vice versa.

Burr said that Sal favored... youth. Travanti was nobody's twink.

Yeah and Travanti seemed to go for older men, like James Daly or his long-time partner, Edward Penn (who died last year at age 93).

Sal's packing heat....

Yeah baby!

Looks good coming and going...

Who Killed Teddy Bear...

This looks interesting.....

Wait! Juliet Prowse, Elaine Stritch, Sal Mineo, Daniel Travanti, and Frank Campanella?

Oh am so going to check out Who Killed Teddy Bear?

R165. It’s great….nice and lurid. Make sure you get the unedited version!!

To me, Sal Mineo always seemed unclean.

R166

Couldn't get that damn opening credit song out of my head all day!

It's so funky and groovy!

Sal Mineo busting some moves!

Sal certainly seemed very heavily sexualized in a lot of the film clips and photographs linked here.

It was originally titled "Who Killed :Pedobear"?

R28 You're right. So many "Harvey Girls" got roles, but their careers never took off.

Sal really was so fucking hot.

R173, Actually, he was not.

R174

Are you blind?

Look at Sal Mineo in that dance clip at R169..

Will give you later on as he aged things might have changed, but that goes for rest of us as well.

Sal Mineo at time of WKTB was hot the way young rough trade Italian boys/men were, especially back in day. Gore Vidal and tons of other middle aged and older gay men packed themselves off to southern Italy in search of just that sort.

Sal Mineo was beautiful like an Italian Renaissance painting. Da Vinci or Caravaggio would have painted him.

He would have made a fortune working 53 & Third. *LOL*

Joe Dallesandro, Sal Mineo... Old school NYC (or Boston, S.F, etc...) rough trade of Italian background.

R40 R54 R59

Liz says Jimmy was molested by his minister in this interview.

R38 R65

Liz says Jimmy was molested by his minister in this interview.

I wonder if that scene from Who Killed Teddy Bear was the inspiration for the famous Pulp Fiction dance scene? People seem to think a scene in 8 1/2 (Fellini) inspired it, but WKTB seems like exactly the kind of obscure exploitation film Tarantino would reference.

R180

That theory was discussed in comments to linked YT video clip. Most hardcore WKTB fans (including those with working knowledge of film) tend to dismiss Tarantino was influenced at all by dance scene. Other sources perhaps, but not WKTB

There's no mistaking it; dance scene in WKTB was highly sexualized. Camera angles, shots and everything else contributes to this including Sal Mineo dancing in trousers so tight one wonders how he can move at all. In certain shots from certain angles you can see Sal's package clearly, and of course the shots of his rear encased in those skin tight pants. Even the shirt Sal wears is so tight you wonder how he could move his arms above his head if at all.

It’s a shame SM didn’t do underground porn, or Warhol’s “art” films.

Perhaps one of best lines in WKTB comes from Elaine Stritch's lesbian character

"I dig fur.."

Did Miss Stritch need the money, or took role in WKTB to grow as an actor....

R182

His career may not have been what he wished by 1965 or so, but Sal Mineo wasn't at Joe Dallesandro's "art film" level.

Actors or actresses usually didn't stoop to that level unless either very hard up for money, and or there was nil chance of getting anything good to decent from Hollywood (big or small screen). Even when they did most high tailed it to Europe .

Though largely dismissed as filth or whatever at time of release, WKTB has gradually been redeemed. and while never was nor is Oscar award material, it was way ahead of its time.

I am trying to come up with an American actor filmed the way Sal was in R162's clips of WKTB and am drawing a blank. A bare midriff? The gym shots? The torso? Those clothes?

The first thing I can think of subsequently in American film is how RDJ was sexualized/feminized in Less Than Zero.

Joe D'Allesandro was a juvenile delinquent from a broken home who became male prostitute and did hardcore porn before being discovered by Warhol and put in Paul Morrissey's films. Sal was doing stage work and was in Hollywood movies before he was 18. Hardly a good comparison besides the both of them being sexy and of NY Italian descent. Sal was talented and gay-leaning (he claims bisexual and I will honor but he definitely preferred dick) while Joe was a just broke airheaded junkie who seemed to be just gay-for-pay. And for James Dean, it even doesn't matter if he was molested, he liked dick and sought out dick. He went out of his way to get Brando's dick.

^^^ D’Allesandro identifies as bi to this very day.

That's what they all say....

But if it helps guys to sleep better at night let them cling to that bit.

R186 I doubt Brando and Dean were ever lovers. Brando mostly shunned Dean in real life.

Marlon Brando strikes one as a guy who was up for any sort of sex bar one; paying for it. Otherwise male or female long as he had his fun, that's all that mattered.

Dean may not have gotten in Brando's (or Clift's) pants but I'm sure he got into countless others.

R191 I’m more likely to believe Dean and Newman hooked up than Dean and Brando.

I can envision a lot of blowies being exchanged among the Mineo, Dean, Brando and Newman crowd.

Circle jerks too.

Some of you really ought to know better.

Not every trick become some sort of passionate great love affair. Gay men then, now and for ages are perfectly capable of a bit of sex and that's all. Maybe things turn into some sort of regular trick thing, maybe not.

For those in public eye or whatever far as things went back then it was far safer tricking with someone you knew. This as opposed to going out cruising which could end badly on a number of levels.

One reason so many want to see Roddy McDowall's personal paper is in hope he named names not just who he went with, but other gays in Hollywood as well.

Roddy knew everyone that mattered so if there is any dirt, chances are he knew. But McDowall was famous for keeping confidences, so thanks to things being locked up we'll never know.

Little Known Fact: Sal's cousin Al invented the mimeograph.

Did Salvatore Mineo get to sample Carmine Orrico's cazzo?

R194, Roddy left all his personal effects/papers to Boston University, as did Bette Davis.

Yes dear, but....

"In order to protect the friends he loved so much, Roddy stipulated that his personal documents be sealed and never released to the public eye until 100 years after his death; the year 2098."

So unless you happen to be Samantha Stephens, Endora, a member of that family, or some other non mortal being, neither you nor I will be around when those papers are released to general public.

R198, Sweetie, In 2098, no one alive will remember who the hell Roddy McDowall was, much less care about what he wrote about his friends and acquaintances.

Those time stipulations are often overruled, as happened with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, LBJ, etc.

R176, Too short, too ethnic, too greasy looking, probably uncut . . . No thanks.

Not everyone likes Ken dolls.

R185

Don't forget the posters advertising WKTB

If Sal were alive he would love this thread. Maybe he can read it from gay heaven .

Would he have survived the AIDS epidemic? Did he prefer to bottom?

[quote]Fifteen-year-old Jill Haworth (later the original stage Sally Bowles in Cabaret) was his romantic interest in Exodus. They began an intense affair. Late in 1962, she introduced Mineo to 19-year-old pop singer Bobby Sherman. Two years later, she found them in bed. Mineo would claim that before Sherman, he didn't know what two men did together sexually, and asked his gay hairdresser for details. The hairdresser showed him. Devastated, Haworth ended their relationship, although eventually they became friends. Mineo insisted he was bisexual. Most of his relationships, however, were with younger males.

R204 From the police file on his murder investigation, it says one "candid informant," who was a studio publicist, told them:

Sal craved a certain sort of lover. He was obsessively specific. He grokked male Caucasians between 16 and 20. He’d poke boys as young as 14 and as old as 25 — on occasion. Sal dug small-framed males. He craved bedmates who were not “particularly bright.” He jumped young men who were “extremely bright and did not fulfill his physical requirements” — on occasion. Sal had a weird sense of humor. He played mind games with his sex objects. He played physical games geared to frustrate bright young men. Sal picked up hitchhikers and had one-night stands with young black men — on occasion. Gay-bar trade, ditto.

Also, the guy Sal was dating at the time of his death was named Michael Kaplan. He said he an Sal had met at Studio One (gay nightclub) three weeks before. The report described Kaplan as a white male, 5'8, 130-140, age 25.

That paragraph reads very "Tonight at 10: An Insight Into the Predatory World of The Homosexual."

Yeah, R207, I'm not buying it either.

[quote]He was quite sexy. No, god no, he did not fuck Paul Lynde.

Well he certainly could have...SELFISH!

Sal Mineo in his prime, 1957 on WML.

Worth watching for that smile alone.

What a beauty he was.

I honestly don't see how anyone could find that little greaseball attractive.

James Franco (yes that one) directed a movie about Sal Mineo. The issue is the actor looked and sounded nothing like Sal. Ralph Macchio in the 90s would have been perfect for the role if he could bulk it up to get Sal's beefcake body.

The article at r73 paints Roddy McDowall in a very poor light. This is the first time I've read anything negative about him. If what's printed is true he was quite the cunt. Or perhaps Burr is. Or the two of them.

And what about Boze Hadleigh's interview with Mineo? Is DL on board with this or has Hadleigh been discredited here

He was a fox

R5 It's kind of fun to make stuff up, isn't it?

Wow, just beautiful

Roddy McDowell probably was a cunt, but somehow I'd assume he'd want someone with more status than Sal, esp. if Sal was "indiscrete" in his associations.

Perfect ass

Sal wanted to play BOTH parts in Midnight Cowboy, ala Patty Duke.

He could've pulled it off

Patty could have, too.

Sal should have had a role on Dark Shadows.

I wonder if Monty Clift, Sal Mineo and Jimmy Dean given their sluttiness, would have survived the HIV crisis of the 80s. I assume Farley Granger and Paul Newman survived because they eventually settled down with someone. Marlon Brando was just lucky.

Sal was so lovely.

Isn't Sal Dr. Milo in "Escape from the Planet of the Apes"?

I think the movie is on the Comet channel tonight.

Sad that he's under all of that makeup and we can't see his face.

[quote] Isn't Sal Dr. Milo in "Escape from the Planet of the Apes"?

Yes. His last film role, and one of five movies in which he dies. I think that’s a record.

Sal Minney-oh had the head of a toadstool on the body of a pygmy.

(Fairly recent Sal Mineo video clip I found uploaded on-line) An appearance by Sal on the Mike Douglas Show from around 1969 to promote the controversial prison themed play, 'Fortune in Men's Eyes', that he was producing/directing which explored homosexuality and male sexual slavery behind bars. In Sal's discussion of the play with Mike,, neither brings up the homosexuality angle. Maybe it's because Ozzie and Harriet were there with them.

He shouldn't have gotten killed. Coppola, De Palma, Scorsese or Tarantino would have revived his career. He could have been in a John Waters movie like Polyester or Hairspray.

Who Killed Teddy Bear is an awful movie. But Sal looked good in it. Sad he wasn’t offered better movies.

R1: That’s disgusting. I’ve always hated Martin Short. What a prick.